[Adopted 11-30-2009 by Ord. No. 482[1]]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance provided an effective date
of 1-1-2010.
The Tobyhanna Township Board of Supervisors, for the purpose
of providing revenue for emergency services, road maintenance and
construction, reductions in property taxes and property tax relief,
does hereby impose on each adult resident and nonresident employed
and/or engaged in an occupation within the jurisdiction of Tobyhanna
Township a local services tax at a flat rate, which said tax shall
be in addition to all other taxes levied and assessed by the Township
pursuant to any other laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Beginning on the effective date of this article, each adult
resident or nonresident employed within the boundaries of Tobyhanna
Township shall be required to pay an annual local services tax in
an amount of $52.
The local services tax shall not be subject to the imposition
of the Local Tax Enabling Act discount and penalty provisions in regard
to the levy and collection of this local services tax.
A.
The tax imposed by this article shall be collected by the duly elected
or appointed Tax Collector of Tobyhanna Township (as directed by the
Board of Supervisors) in accordance with state and local regulations
and in the same manner as other Township taxes. It shall be the duty
of each adult employed within Tobyhanna Township to pay the local
services tax in accordance with 53 P.S. § 6924.101 et seq.,
as amended. Each individual covered under this article and required
to pay the local services tax shall be assessed a pro rata share of
the tax for each payroll period in which the individual is engaged
in an occupation within the Township. The pro rata share of the tax
assessed on the individual for a payroll period shall be determined
by dividing the combined rate of the local services tax levied for
the calendar year ($52) by the number of payroll periods established
by the employer for the calendar year. For purposes of determining
the pro rata share, an employer shall round down the amount of the
tax collected each payroll period to the nearest one-hundreth of a
dollar. The collection of the local services tax shall be made on
a payroll period basis for each payroll period in which the person
is engaged in an occupation, except as otherwise provided for within
53 P.S. § 6924.101 et seq., as amended.
B.
Each employer within Tobyhanna Township, as well as those employers
situated outside Tobyhanna Township but who engage in business within
Tobyhanna Township, shall withhold this local services tax from the
compensation of their employees who are subject to the tax. This local
services tax shall be withheld from each employee who is subject to
the local services tax, and said tax shall be collected by the duly
elected or appointed Tax Collector of Tobyhanna Township (as directed
by the Board of Supervisors) in accordance with state and local regulations
and in the same manner as other Township taxes.
The entry of the tax in the tax duplicate and the issuance of
the said duplicate to the Tax Collector shall constitute his warrant
for the collection of the tax as hereby assessed. Each employer within
Tobyhanna Township shall cooperate with the Township in identifying
those people employed within the Township.
The following persons shall be exempt from the local services
tax:
A.
Any person who served in any war or armed conflict in which the United
States was engaged and honorably discharged or released under honorable
circumstances from active duty, if, as a result of military service,
the person is blind, paraplegic or a double or quadruple amputee or
has a service-connected disability declared by the United States Veterans'
Administration or its successor to be a total one-hundred-percent
permanent disability.
B.
Any person who serves as a member of a reserve component of the armed
forces and is called to active duty at any time during the taxable
year.
C.
Any person who earns less than $12,000 in earned income and net profits
from all sources within Tobyhanna Township for the calendar year in
which the local services tax is levied.
(1)
A person seeking to claim an exemption from the local services tax
may annually file an exemption certificate with Tobyhanna Township,
the Township Tax Collector and with the person's employer affirming
that the person reasonably expects to receive earned income and net
profits from all sources within Tobyhanna Township of less than $12,000
in the calendar year for which the exemption certificate is filed.
The exemption certificate shall have attached to it a copy of all
the employee's last pay stubs or W-2 forms from employment within
Tobyhanna Township for the year prior to the fiscal year for which
the employee is requesting to be exempted from the local services
tax. Upon receipt of the exemption certificate and until otherwise
instructed by Tobyhanna Township, the employer shall not withhold
the tax from the person during the calendar year or the remainder
of the calendar year for which the exemption certificate applies.
Employers shall ensure that the exemption certificate forms, which
are provided by the Department of Community and Economic Development,
are readily available to employees at all times and shall furnish
each new employee with a form at the time of hiring. For purposes
of this section, earned income and net profits shall have the same
meanings as in the Local Tax Enabling Act, as amended.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See 53 P.S. 6924.101 et seq.
(2)
With respect to a person who claimed an exemption for a given calendar year from the local services tax, upon notification to an employer by the person or by Tobyhanna Township that the person has received earned income and net profits from all sources within the Township equal to or in excess of $12,000 in that calendar year or that the person is otherwise ineligible for the tax exemption for that calendar year, or upon an employer's payment to the person of earned income within the Township in an amount equal to or in excess of $12,000 in that calendar year, an employer shall withhold the local services tax from the person under Subsection C(3) below.
(3)
If a person who claimed an exemption for a given calendar year from the local services tax becomes subject to the tax for the calendar year under Subsection C(2) above, the employer shall withhold the tax for the remainder of that calendar year. The employer shall withhold from the person, for the first payroll period after receipt of the notification under Subsection C(2), a lump sum equal to the amount of tax that was not withheld from the person due to the exemption claimed by the person under this subsection, plus the per-payroll amount due for that first payroll period. The amount of tax withheld per payroll period for the remaining payroll periods in that calendar year shall be the same amount withheld for other employees. In the event the employment of a person subject to withholding of the tax under this subsection is subsequently severed in that calendar year, the person shall be liable for any outstanding balance of tax due, and the Township may pursue collection under this article.
A.
No person shall be subject to the payment of the local services tax
by more than one political subdivision during each payroll period.
B.
The situs of the tax shall be the place of employment on the first
day the person becomes subject to the tax during each payroll period.
C.
In the event a person is engaged in more than one occupation, that
is, concurrent employment, or an occupation which requires the person
working in more than one political subdivision during a payroll period,
the priority of claim to collect the local services tax shall be in
the following order: first, the political subdivision in which a person
maintains the person's principal office or is principally employed;
second, the political subdivision in which the person resides and
works, if the tax is levied by that political subdivision; and third,
the political subdivision in which a person is employed and which
imposes the tax nearest in miles to the person's home.
D.
In the case of concurrent employment, an employer shall refrain from
withholding the local services tax if the employee provides a recent
pay statement from a principal employer that includes the name of
the employer, the length of the payroll period and the amount of the
local services tax withheld and a statement from the employee that
the pay statement is from the employee's principal employer,
and the employee will notify other employers of a change in principal
place of employment within two weeks of its occurrence.
A person claiming the right to a refund for the local services
tax shall follow the regulations governing refunds in accordance with
53 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 8425 and 8426, as amended, and/or any
Township ordinance or resolution governing said refunds.
Any resident or nonresident who fails or refuses to pay the
local services tax or to render accurate information to an assessor
concerning the status of his or employment or age shall, upon conviction
thereof, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $600 and, in
default of payment, to imprisonment for a term not to exceed 30 days.
The Tax Collector and Township may also proceed with all other available
remedies, including but not limited to filing an action for the recovery
of any tax due or unpaid under this article, together with interest
and penalty.
